Apparatus for applying, distributing and smoothing plastic material to a wall surface



May 22, 1962 G. KLEMP 3,035,776

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING, DISTRIBUTING AND SMOOTHING PLASTIC MATERIAL TO AWALL SURFACE Filed Aug. I3, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Gusn VMEMP:

BY 44d ATTORNEY y 1962 G. KLEMP 3,035,776

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING, DISTRIBUTING AND SMOOTHING PLASTIC MATERIAL TO AWALL SURFACE Filed Aug. 15, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Gusnq viii5M1? BY A26.

ATTO R N EY United States Patent 3,035,776 Patented May 22, 1962 tliceAPPARATUS FOR APPLYING, DISTRIBUTING AND SMOOTHING PLASTIC MATERIAL TO AWALL SURFACE Gustav Klernp, Morsbach (Sieg), Germany Filed Aug. 13,1959, Ser. No. 833,485 Claims priority, application Germany Aug. 14,1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 239-186) The present invention relates to anapparatus for applying plastic material, more particularly preparedmortar or plaster, to a wall surface and distributing it so that theplastered surface lies in a vertical plane, whether the wall surface beundulating, pitted, not normal to the floor, or not straight when viewedin a horizontal plane.

An object of the invention resides in the provision of an apparatus forapplying plastic material to a wall whereby the applied material isperfectly smooth.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus whichwill apply a continuous layer of plastic material to a wall in verticalstrips of any required Width from floor to ceiling.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus forapplying plastic material to a wall whereby excess material which isremoved when smoothing the wall surface drops back into the containerfor the plastic material.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a central controlarrangement for a mortar applying apparatus whereby all necessaryoperations such as the application of the plaster or mortar, scrapingand smoothing it and the rate at which the work is being performed canbe controlled from a single central position.

In the apparatus or plastering machine according to the invention theplaster is applied by means of two horizontal rows of nozzles arrangedone above the other on a divided mortar container, the upper row ofnozzles emitting obliquely upwardly inclined jets of mortar and thelower row producing horizontal jets. Compressed air or another suitablefluid under pressure is used for blowing the material through thenozzles. The width of the wall area to which the plaster is applied canbe determined by cutting out individual nozzles or pairs of nozzles oneabove the other. The row of nozzles emitting the oblique upwardlyinclined jets is used for plastering the part of the wall immediatelybelow the ceiling.

The divided mortar container comprises an ordinary mortar container witha partition attached to the front of the mortar container and extendingrearwardly and upwardly. Since with such an arrangement the twocompartments of the mortar container are open at the top they can bereplenished simply by emptying a storage container thereinto; excessmortar discharged into the upper compartment will then flow into thelower compartment over the upper edge of the partition.

The front wall of the container is preferably inclined forwardly so thatany plaster scraped off above the container will be collected by theinclined front wall and dropping of mortar or plaster to the floor isavoided.

In order that the plastering machine may be used in any location themortar container is preferably mounted on a support capable of movingsideways on rails so that juxtaposed vertical strips of the wall can becovered successively.

The quantity of mortar issuing from each individual nozzle is regulatedpreferably by throttling the compressed air fed to each nozzle,preferably from a common control position.

Vertical movement of the unit consisting of the mortar container and thenozzles is eifected by mounting the unit on a base which is verticallymovable on a frame and actuated either pneumatically or hydraulically orby other suitable, conventional means.

Smoothing is performed preferably by bars placed above and below themortar container which bars are hydraulically or pneumatically pressedagainst the wall and lifted away therefrom.

The actual smoothing operation is performed preferably by a smoothingbar having a knife edge at the top and a relatively blunt lower edgewhich is about 2 mm. closer to the wall to which the plastic material isapplied than the top edge.

Control is effected by means of a single central control handle to whichare attached actuating levers and keys for the several valves. It ispreferable to so arrange the valve controlling the flow of the hydraulicor pneumatic fluid governing the vertical travel of the mortar box andrelated components that the valve is actuated by rotating the controlhandle. The valves controlling the jacks for the scraping and smoothingmechanisms are preferably actuated by pressure keys whilst the rows ofnozzles are cut in and out of operation by hand levers. If the pressurekeys and hand levers are mounted on the rotating control handle, therate of advance of the mortar box, the pressure of the scraping andsmoothing means and the rate of fiow of the jets of mortar can beadjusted easily and quickly so that, if there are any irregularities inthe wall surface to which the mortar is applied, the operator canimmediately make the necessary corrections. The convenient means formaking corrections, together with the vertical guide mechanism of theapparatus, afford production of an accurately plane, vertical plasteredwall surface.

A substantial advantage of the present invention resides in the factthat the necessary operations can be carried out at any desired timing.This makes it possible first to allow the freshly applied mortar to seta little before smoothing. In addition, the scraping and smoothingattachments can easily be guided both horizontally and vertically bymeans of the control system according to the invention so that theoperator can readily lift the smoothing tools away from the wall alongan arcuate path tangent to the plastered surface, without tearing holesinto the surface just smoothed over.

A further advantage of the plastering machine according to the inventionconsists in the fact that plastered strips located side by side willblend into each other without discontinuity; this is achieved by makingthe scraping and smoothing bars of a length such that they extend beyondthe widths of the rows of nozzles.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in greater detailby way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:7

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic vertical part sectional illus tration of amortar applying apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a View of the apparatus according to FIG. 1 as seen from thewall surface to which the mortar is applied. I

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a machine according to the invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, a mortar container 1 whichtapers downwardly is divided by a partition 2 into a smaller uppercompartment 3 and a larger lower compartment 4. Above the mortarcontainer is a smoothing bar 5 and a hinged scraper or distributor bar6; a smoothing tool 11 is below the container 1. The smoothing bar 5 isactuated by the plunger of a hydraulic or pneumatic jack 13, thesmoothing bar 11 being connected to a plunger 12a of a hydraulic orpneumatic jack 12. The scraper 6 is movably connected to the plungeractuating the bar 5 by means of an arm 6a. The said hydraulic orpneumatic jacks and the container 1 are mounted rigidly upon a baseplate 14 which is guided by means of rollers 16 and 17 to move along aframework indicated diagrammatically at 15.

Two horizontal pipes 7 and 9, provided with a row of nozzles 7a and 9a,respectively, are placed inside the container 1. The nozzles 7a extendhorizontally forward (as shown in FIG. 1) whilst the nozzles 9a areinclined upwardly. Openings 27 are provided in the front wall of thecontainer 1 in the path of the jets issuing from the nozzles 7a, andopenings 26 are provided in front of the nozzles 9a. If compressed airissues from the said nozzles, the mortar contained in the chambers 4 and3' will be carried along, forming jets of mortar 8 and 10, respectively.The flow of compressed air in the pipes 7 and 9 is regulated by means oflevers 21 and 22, respectively, which actuate conventional valveslocated in a block 18 receiving compressed air from a supply pipe 25.The flow of compressed air to the jacks 12 and 13 is controlled bymanipulating keys 23 and 24, respectively, which actuate suitableconventional valves located in the block 18.

The block 18 can also be rotated about an axis 18a by manipulatinghandles 19 and 20 which are rigidly connected to the block 18. Rotationof the block 18 in one or the other direction by means of the handles19, 20 causes actuation of a valve, not shown and connected to the block13, for controlling the flow of a pressure fluid to or from a pneumaticor hydraulic motor, not shown, actuating a rope drum 34 (FIG. 3) forraising or lowering the base plate 14 and the devices attached thereto.Compressed air or a fluid under pressure flows to the block 18 andtherefrom to the valves controlled by the aforedescribed operatinghandles, which are arranged in a cluster, through a hose 25.

FIG. 2 shows the mortar box 1 as viewed from the wall against which thenozzles are directed, showing particularly the location of the openings26 and 27. The smoothing bar and the scraper bar 6 located above themortar box are actuated by plungers 13a of the jacks 13. The jets aredirected upwardly for applying plaster to the corner of a wall and aceiling. The bar 5 can be turned upward to be pressed into the corner.

The smoothing tool 11 connected to the plungers 12a of the jacks .12 isseen below the container 1. Numerals 28 and 29 designate bars supportingthe mortar container 1 and rigidly attached to the base plate 14.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a complete apparatus according to theinvention. The container 1 for the plastic material is supported by thebase 14 which rolls by means of rollers 16 and 17 on the frame 15. Thebase 1 4 hangs on a rope 30 running over a roller 31 mounted on anextension 32 of the frame 15. The rope is guided by a roller 33wherefrom it runs on a drum 34 which may be driven by a pressure fluidactuated motor, not shown. The roller 33 and the drum 34 are supportedby a base element 40 to which a support 41 for the valve block 18 isconnected. The latter receives pressure fluid through the supply conduit25. from a storage container 46 receiving pressure fluid through a pipe47 from a source of supply, not shown.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for applying plastic material to a wall comprising, incombination, a base element, an upright mounted on said base element, abase member vertically movable along said upright, a container supportedby said base member, said container having a front wall facing the wallto which the plastic material must be supplied, a horizontal row ofapertures provided in the lower portion of said front wall, an outletnozzle for a pressure fluid associated with each of said apertures andmounted in said container for blowing plastic material from saidcontainer through said apertures in substantially horizontal direction,said front Wall of said container having an upper portion reclining froma horizontal line, a hon'zon tal row of apertures in said reclining wallportion, and an outlet nozzle for a pressure fluid associated with eachof said last mentioned apertures and mounted in said container forblowing plastic material from said container through said last mentionedapertures in an upwardly inclined direction.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 comprising a partition in saidcontainer, dividing the latter into a lower chamber including said lowerportion of said front wall and supplying plastic material to theapertures in the lower portion of said front wall, and into an upperchamber including said reclining wall portion and supplying plasticmaterial to the apertures in the reclining portion of said front wall.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a pipe to which thenozzles associated with the apertures in the lower front wall portionare connected for supplying pressure fluid to said nozzles, and a pipeto which the nozzles associated with the apertures in said recliningfront wall portion are connected for separately and independentlysupplying pressure fluid to said lastmentioned nozzles.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 including a flexible pressure fluidconduit connected to each of said pipes, and a valve in each of saidconduits for selectively controlling supply of pressure fluid to saidpipes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,100,565 Higgins June 16, 1914 1,281,404 Marquess Oct. 15, 19181,797,666 Morelli Mar. 24, 1931 1,863,924 Dunn June 21, 1932 2,491,212Robinson Dec. 13, 1949 2,551,538 Hensel May 1, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS333,423 Switzerland Oct. 31, 1958 716,944 Great Britain Oct. 20, 1954

